Farsighted

By: Steven Johnson

Narrated by: George Newbern, Steven Johnson - introduction

A groundbreaking book about making once-in-a-lifetime decisions, from the best-selling author of How We Got to Now and Where Good Ideas Come From

Plenty of books offer useful advice on how to get better at making quick-thinking, intuitive choices. But what about more consequential decisions, the ones that affect our lives for years or centuries to come? Our most powerful stories revolve around these kinds of decisions: where to live, whom to marry, what to believe, whether to start a company, how to end a war.

Full of the beautifully crafted storytelling and novel insights that Steven Johnson's fans know to expect, Farsighted draws lessons from cognitive science, social psychology, military strategy, environmental planning, and great works of literature. Everyone thinks we are living in an age of short attention spans, but we've actually learned a lot about making long-term decisions over the past few decades. Johnson makes a compelling case for a smarter and more deliberative decision-making approach. He argues that we choose better when we break out of the myopia of single-scale thinking and develop methods for considering all the factors involved.

There's no one-size-fits-all model for the important decisions that can alter the course of a life, an organization, or a civilization. But Farsighted explains how we can approach these choices more effectively and how we can appreciate the subtle intelligence of choices that shaped our broader social history.

©2018 Steven Johnson (P)2018 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

“Riveting.... As a deep thinker and gifted storyteller, Johnson is the right author to tackle the topic. He’s at his best when analyzing impossibly complex decisions.... One of Johnson’s thought-provoking points is that [people who excel at long-term thinking] read novels, which are ideal exercises in mental time travel and empathy. I think he’s right.” (The New York Times Book Review)

“Johnson is explicitly focused on real-life decisions that (ideally) involve serious deliberation.... [He]reminds us that, fundamentally, choices concern competing narratives, and we’re likely to make better choices if we have richer stories, with more fleshed-out characters, a more nuanced understanding of motives, and a deeper appreciation of how decisions are likely to reverberate and resound.” (The Wall Street Journal)

“Johnson is well-placed to dig into these dilemmas of decision-making, as he gracefully serves up examples ranging from 17th-century urban planning to contemporary artificial intelligence.” (Financial Times)

The Complexity of Making A Decision

The somewhat dry yet informative narrative in the first half of the book dealing with methodology and examples kindly reconciles in the later half with more broad views while continuing on already considered examples. It is scholarly and entertaining to the curious mind.

Decisions are hard.

Farsighted is an interesting book, but it seems to mainly illustrate just how very complex decision-making can be. These are not the single-variable, binary, yes or no type of decisions, but instead the complex and complicated type where changing types of variables are considered. Many of these decisions that matter the most are group or societal ones; I had hoped for more focus on individual decisions.

Enjoyed it - Not what I was expecting

I did enjoy this book. It wasn't what I thought. I thought it was going to be more "leadership" style narrative. i did really enjoy the use of the military references to show a point.

A soup to nuts explanation of choice

This is a very useful book. It will help you understand our natural limitations and inclinations when dealing with decisions that are not yet completely relevant to the immediate, lack enough data to focus our attention, or increasingly for the decisions of our day- are so big and have so much data as to overload our faculties and abilities to process. The ideas and understandings in this book should be taught to all. It utility spans the individual to a leader with great responsibility and authority.

Powerful Book for Business and Personal Decisions

This was an excellent book on how to make decisions. I’m taking away parts to influence my business life, others to influence my personal life and another part to help an 8yr old get ready faster in the morning.

Best of Johnson

I wish I had read this book years ago. Steven stimulates the brain. Personal stories are a welcome extra.

Farsightedness!

Wow, I've never thought of decision making as this book explains. Its profound and thorough explanation of being able to think farsighted gives a whole new perspective on the repercussions of your decisions. Great Book overall!

listen 2 times to it. considering buying print

listen 2 times to it. considering buying print copy. the review system is weird, requiring 15 words minimum

Great start with a lackluster finish

awesome capture of the science and history of decisions. The last few chapters get political and pretty far out leading to Steve not following his own earlier wisdom of considering alternatives and uncertainty of current doomsday predictions.

extremely interesting and thought provoking

the discussion around decision making at a variety of levels makes for an excellent follow on to Daniel K's book